One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$44.57 our estimate vs market $38.52
Wall Street consensus: $36.50 (-18.1% lower than our fair-value estimate)
14% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Intrepid Potash, Inc.
IPI · NYQ · Basic Materials · Agricultural Inputs
Current price
$38.52
52-week range
$22.55 - $50.34
Market cap
$518.28M
Balance sheet
Healthy
38.24x Strong cushion
Net cash $181.75M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 17.1% last year.
- Reward Returns 3.1% on equity, ahead of 16% of its peers.
- Risk Stock trades 71.8% above its 5-year average P/E.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 30.5% to 2.5% over 3 years.
What this company does
Intrepid Potash, Inc.
Intrepid Potash provides essential minerals for two major industries: farming and energy. The company's main business is selling potash and a specialty fertilizer called Trio, which farmers need to grow crops. Additionally, it sells salt and mineral-rich water to oil and gas companies, meaning its financial health often depends on the demand for food and fuel.
How the company got here
Intrepid Potash was formed in 2000 to buy a potash mine in Moab, Utah. The company applied technology from the oil and gas industry to increase production at the mine. Through acquisitions in New Mexico and Utah, it grew to become the largest producer of muriate of potash (a common type of potassium fertilizer) in the United States. The company went public with an initial public offering (an IPO, which is the first time a company sells its stock to the public) in 2008. Over the years, it has expanded beyond just potash to offer other specialty fertilizers and products for industrial uses.
What it actually does
Intrepid Potash mines and produces minerals that are essential for growing food and for various industrial processes. Think of them as a company that provides key ingredients for farmers' fertilizers, nutrients for animal feed, and even products for de-icing roads or for use in the oil and gas industry. They are the only producer of muriate of potash in the United States. Their main products are potassium-based fertilizers, specialty fertilizers, salt, and water solutions for industrial companies.
Potash
This is the company's foundational business, focused on mining and selling muriate of potash, a key nutrient for crops. Farmers and fertilizer companies buy this product to help crops like corn and soybeans grow healthy. It's also sold as a nutrient supplement for animal feed and as a component in fluids used for drilling oil and gas wells. This segment represents a significant part of the company's business.
Trio
This segment produces and sells a specialty fertilizer called Trio®, which is made from a unique mineral called langbeinite. Unlike standard potash, Trio provides three essential nutrients for plants in one particle: potassium, magnesium, and sulfate. This makes it particularly valuable for high-value crops like fruits, vegetables, and nuts. This segment has grown to be the largest contributor to the company's revenue (the total amount of money generated from sales).
Oilfield Solutions
This part of the business sells water and related services to oil and gas companies, primarily in the Permian Basin. These customers buy water and brine (salty water) for their drilling and well completion activities. The company also provides services like mixing potassium chloride on-site and disposing of saltwater. While smaller than the fertilizer segments, it provides a distinct source of income tied to the energy industry.
What management is betting on now
The company's main focus is on increasing its potash production after a period of decline. They are investing in their mining facilities to improve efficiency and get production back to historical levels, which they believe will improve their profitability. Management is also exploring other growth opportunities, such as a potential project to extract lithium, a key component in batteries, from the brine at one of their Utah facilities. Additionally, they are looking for partners to develop sand resources on their land.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$-13.95M
FY2024 Q4
$1.44M
FY2025 Q1
$2.65M
FY2025 Q2
$35.81M
FY2025 Q3
$-11.73M
FY2025 Q4
$-1.18M
FY2026 Q1
$18.03M
FY2026 Q2
$25.91M
Revenue
—
Net income
$15.58M
Diluted EPS
1.17
Operating cash flow
$34.37M
Free cash flow
$25.91M
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Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$7.42M
Diluted EPS
0.56
Operating cash flow
$23.17M
Free cash flow
$18.03M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$-429.00K
Diluted EPS
-0.03
Operating cash flow
$8.91M
Free cash flow
$-1.18M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$3.75M
Diluted EPS
0.28
Operating cash flow
$-3.99M
Free cash flow
$-11.73M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$3.26M
Diluted EPS
0.25
Operating cash flow
$39.94M
Free cash flow
$35.81M
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Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$4.61M
Diluted EPS
0.35
Operating cash flow
$10.92M
Free cash flow
$2.65M
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Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$-207.05M
Diluted EPS
-16.09
Operating cash flow
$7.56M
Free cash flow
$1.44M
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Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$-1.83M
Diluted EPS
-0.14
Operating cash flow
$-4.34M
Free cash flow
$-13.95M
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Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $44.57 vs current price $38.52
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $36.50 (-18.1% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $44.57 a share — about 15.7% above today's price of $38.52, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net cash $181.8M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage 38.2x.
Net debt
$-181.75M
Interest coverage
38.24x
Intrepid Potash, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 38.2 times over. which is stronger than every peer shown here.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
IPI
BASELINE
Intrepid Potash, Inc.
Total debt $3.24M Interest coverage 38.24x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $774.60M Interest coverage 1.15x -97% vs IPI Carries about 33.2x less debt cushion than IPI.
Total debt $574.70M Interest coverage 4.28x -89% vs IPI Carries about 8.9x less debt cushion than IPI.
Total debt $6.08B Interest coverage 4.47x -88% vs IPI Carries about 8.6x less debt cushion than IPI.
Total debt $3.61B Interest coverage 16.38x -57% vs IPI Carries about 2.3x less debt cushion than IPI.
Total debt $12.73B Interest coverage 5.31x -86% vs IPI Carries about 7.2x less debt cushion than IPI.
What you should know
The case for and against IPI
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 17.1% last year.
-
Returns 3.1% on equity, ahead of 16% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 7/10 years.
Risks
-
Stock trades 71.8% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Operating margin compressed from 30.5% to 2.5% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
32.64x
Forward P/E
27.24x
P/B
0.99x
P/S
2.15x
EV/EBITDA
5.12x
PEG ratio
0.96x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
27.8%
Operating margin
2.5%
Net margin
10.9%
ROE
3.1%
ROA
2.1%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.01x
Current ratio
6.33x
Quick ratio
4.13x
Total debt
$3.24M
Total cash
$184.99M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$241.58M
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-4.0%
EPS TTM
1.18
EPS 5Y CAGR
-45.9%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$62.45M
Free CF TTM
$25.54M
FCF margin
10.6%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
—
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
2012-12-13